Toronto Is Spending Billions to Copy Montreal’s Housing Model

The Canadian Real Estate Investor · Oct 23, 2026 · 48m

Montreal was building gentle density a century before anyone called it “missing middle.” Nick and Dan go back to the Lachine Canal factory boom and a 10 foot setback rule that pushed staircases outside and gave the city its look. They get into the original house hack (owner downstairs, tenants upstairs), why all of Quebec moves on July 1, and how Montreal became a majority renter city without a skyline full of towers.

Then the contrast: Toronto and Vancouver zoned this housing out of existence and are now spending billions to bring it back. The investor section covers…